Flannery boost for Munster

MUNSTER’S battered and bruised squad has received a tonic with the return of Jerry Flannery for tomorrow’s Magners League clash with Ulster at Thomond Park (7.30pm).

Flannery, 32, has finally overcome the calf problem that recurred most recently in October following the home Heineken Cup tie against Toulon and has kept him out of action since.

The Ireland hooker’s return to a 28-man Munster squad for the New Year’s Day showdown against Ulster puts him in line for a start off the bench in a bid to gain game time to face Toulon on January 16.

Flannery was one of seven Munster players taking part in an Ireland training camp for forwards and scrum-halves in Dublin this week but head coach Tony McGahan was eager to see his first-choice hooker back in a red shirt.

“Without a doubt we’d like to see him hit the ground as soon as possible,” McGahan said of Flannery yesterday. “He ran through 40 minutes on Tuesday with Shannon and he’s with the Ireland camp today so we’ll see how he showed up and make a decision on whether he can be involved.

“Jerry’s a super professional, he’s extremely driven both for himself and also for Munster and what they can achieve. He’s certainly a driving force behind the forward pack, through the set-piece and the work rate that he brings to the game.

“He’s a real ‘follow me’ type of player and over the last few years he’s added to his leadership credentials within the group.”

Flannery’s return also offsets the bad news concerning Alan Quinlan’s dislocated elbow suffered during last Monday’s hard-fought Magners League win at Connacht.

Quinlan was yesterday ruled out for eight weeks having had his elbow put back in place in a Galway hospital on Monday night. Fortunately there was no ancillary damage beyond the dislocation, but the back-row will miss Munster’s final two Heineken Cup Pool Three ties at Toulon and at home to London Irish.

Fellow back-rows James Coughlan and Peter O’Mahony are also missing from the squad to face Ulster. Coughlan missed the Connacht game with a cheekbone injury and was last night set to see a specialist while O’Mahony has a neck problem.

Also set to see a specialist is prop Dave Ryan, whose last-minute substitution against Connacht provoked the ire of the Westerners’ head coach Eric Elwood.

Replacement Ryan’s injury in a scrum and the subsequent re-introduction of Wian du Preez was viewed sceptically by Elwood, who in the wake of the 16-12 defeat at the Sportsground hinted at Munster gamesmanship, but the prop could face surgery on “an acute shoulder injury” should it be deemed necessary after a visit to the doctors next week.

Injuries aside, McGahan was delighted to get back to winning ways in dogged style following the disappointment of a Heineken Cup defeat at Ospreys the week before.

“It’s always important after a loss to get back on and especially so after we made 13 changes to the starting side and 20 overall to the 23-man squad,” the Munster coach said.

“Connacht’s a tough place to go and they’re a tough proposition, especially against a Munster side and when the elements are like that and you have to play into them in the first half. So to come home with a result is in the nature of this period of the season, when you have to continue to dog and grind out.

“Maybe last year we might not have been good enough to get a result but we seem to have found a way this year to get those sort of results.”

Ireland’s player management programme will see Munster rest fly-half Ronan O’Gara and forwards Donncha O’Callaghan and David Wallace, while Ulster have lost back Andrew Trimble for the same reason.

Doug Howlett returns to the Munster squad having missed the Connacht game while Flannery is not the only returning hooker. Ulster named captain Rory Best in their 30-man squad to travel to Limerick, a month after he fractured a cheekbone playing for ireland against New Zealand.

Fellow Irish internationals Tom Court and Paddy Wallace also feature while there is also a call-up for academy out-half Paddy Jackson.

Ireland flanker Stephen Ferris continues to miss out with a leg injury but there is no place for teenage winger Craig Gilroy, who scored Ulster’s only try in Monday’s 13-30 home defeat to Leinster.

MUNSTER: W Du Preez, Darragh Hurley, T Buckley, J Hayes, P Borlase, J Flannery, M Sherry, D Varley, B Holland, M O’Driscoll, I Nagle, D Ryan, N Ronan, P Butler, T O’Donnell, D Leamy; T O’Leary, P Stringer, C Murray, S Deasy, P Warwick, B Murphy, T Gleeson, S Tuitupou, K Earls, L Mafi, Denis Hurley, D Howlett.

ULSTER: B Young, D Fitzpatrick, T Court, BJ Botha, J Cronin, R Best, A Kyriacou, T Barker, N McComb, J Muller, R Caldwell, C Henry, P Wannenburg, W Faloon, TJ Anderson, R Diack; A D’Arcy, D McIlwaine, J Smith, S Danielli, T Seymour, L Marshall, N Spence, I Whitten, P Wallace, N O’Connor, P Jackson, P Marshall, R Pienaar, I Porter.